Battle of Little Water
The Battle of Little Water, also known as the Battle of Bennett Peak was the second of two UNU attacks on Legion infantry columns deployed in response to the Liberation of Window Rock by the guerilla remnants of the Union of the Ute and Navajo Nations after many of the Legion troops were redeployed to the west in an attempt to halt the NCR Arizona Offensive. After destroying the first Legion force three days previously at the Battle of Yah-Ta-Hey, UNU guerilla leader Charles Asaayi turned his attention to the second target, the Legion force marching south from Shiprock, in former New Mexico. The centurion leading the Legion force had no idea of the surprise attack at Yah-Ta-Hey, as the Legion force had no portable radio equipment with- the commander was still expecting to meet up with the other Legion force and attack Window Rock with their combined forces of 500 men. Asaayi, meanwhile, had set up a second ambush using the relatively large number of intact vehicles (20-30), mostly armed pickup trucks or technicals, but also a single M51 Infantry Fighting Vehicle, which the UNU had managed to take into the mountains and hide from the Legion attacking force. One intact Piper Fusion Cub, a light plane powered by rather common fusion cores, remained intact and hidden in the mountains, having even taken off from the Window Rock airstrip shortly before the fall of Window Rock, and landed in Hidden Valley, a wide, flat valley in the Chuska Mountains. The aircraft, which had harassed the Legion on three occasions during the "guerilla phase" of the UNU insurgency, sortied a fourth time on the early morning of April 7th, dropping several small bombs- essentially bundles of modified grenades, as well a strafing the Legion with a 5mm minigun mounted under the fuselage. The aircraft attempted a second run, but was forced to retreat after the Legion forces started firing at it with their rifles, as well as the heavy machine guns of three technicals. While the air attack harassed the Legion, Asaayi deployed twelve technicals, nine of which carried machine guns of some description, including M249 SAWs, M2 .50 caliber, M60s, or 5mm miniguns, while two carried rocket launchers and the the last a Gatling laser. Also present was an M51 IFV that the UNU had scavenged decades ago from a former New Mexico National Guard facility, and had managed to transport with them as they fled into the Chuska Mountains. The vehicles dropped off roughly 50 UNU soldiers on Bennett Peak, the large rock formation on the west side of the pre-war highway, just south of the abandoned pre-war hamlet of Little Water, before dropping of 40 on a formation on the east side known as Ford Butte. The UNU technicals then retreated to hidden positions in dry streambeds, behind ridges, and among abandoned pre-war structures. The waiting UNU guerillas remained hidden, allowing the Legion column to pass. When they had reached a point about 100 meters beyond the two rock formations, both groups opened fire simultaneously, firing on them with everything from hunting rifles to rocket launchers. The Legion troops were caught in the open, with 50 to 70 being cut down as they fled to the south. The rest of them reached small streambed a few hundred meters to the south of the two rock formations, which offered some protection. The Legion troops that made it to cover tried to return fire, though only a few of their shots hit their marks, leading to 5 UNU dead and 13 injured. The pinned down Legion forces were then attacked by the technicals and the one IFV, which rode in from the southwest, southeast, and directly from the south along the highway. The UNU vehicles swept the streambed with machine gun, cannon, and rocket fire, cutting down the remainder of Legion troops down. Only 18 of the Legion troops survived to flee the battle. Aftermath The Battle of Little Water was one of a number of battles in the UNU's resistance to the Legion's campaigns in the Chuska Mountain region. The loss of a significant portion of the Legion garrison left Shiprock vulnerable to the UNU, who liberated the town two weeks later. The loss at Little Water, along with that the Battle of Yah-Ta-Hey, drove Tiberius Malpaisianus, the Legion governor of the province of Malpais, to order his few thousand remaining troops to fortify the cliffs around Gallup and hole up in the city. The UNU managed to liberate much of their old lands, but would not retake Gallup until the New California Republic Defence Forces reach the city and aided the UNU in the liberation of the city. Category:Battles